Cotton-picker



(No Modei.) 5 Shets-Shet 1.

J. W. WALLIS.

COTTON PIGKER. No. 394,316. Patented Dec. 11, 1888.

I l l I 0 INVENTOR:

BY Jiwmv E ATTORNEYS.

v (No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 2. J. W. WALLIS. COTTON PICKER No.'394,316. Patented Dec. 11', 1888.

INVENTORZ ATTORNEYS.

WITNESSES 5 Sheets-Sheet 3.

(No Model.)

J. W. WALLIS.

GOTTON PIGKER.

Patented Dec. 11. 1888.

INVENTOR:

WITNESSES 6? W M ATTORNEYS.

N. PETERS. Fhqln-Lllhognbbar, Wi wam n c (No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 4.

'J. W; WALLIS.

COTTON PIOKBR. I No. 894,316. Patented Dec. 11 1888.

WITNESSES: IIVVENTOI? 5.6 By Mun/n Q I 8 Arron/var (No Model. 5 Sheets-Sheet 5.

J. W. WALLIS.

COTTON PIGKER.'

No. 894,816. Patented Dec. 11, 1888.

INVENTOR/ BY I WITH/E8856: 4a,; X116 ATTORNEY.

u. PETERS, P'lotv-Umoghpher, wanhingtcn. 0.6.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES \V. \VALLIS, OF BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA.

COTTON-PICKER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 394,316, dated December 11, 1888.

Application filed June 14, 1887.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES \V. \VALLIS, residing at Birmingham, county of Jefferson, and State of Alabama, have invented an Improvement in Cotton-lIarvesters, 013' which the following is a specification.

This invention is an improvement in that class of cotton-harvestcrs whose pickersthat is to say, devices employed. for extracting the cotton from thebollsare alternately thrust into and withdrawn from the cottonplants as the machine of which such pickers form a part travels along a row of plants.

My invention consists, chiefly, in the construction and arrangement of the pickers and the shafts on which they are mounted, and, secondly, in the combination with them of devices for transferring the cotton extracted by the pickers back to a suitable receptacle. Suitable means are provided for actuatin the pickers and said devices, as hereinafter described.

In accompanying drawings illustrate the parts composing my invention, together with others forming portions of a complete machine, and the most important of which form the subject of an application filed by me September 8, 1887, Serial No. 2+l9,165.

Figure 1 is a plan view of the parts constitutin g my invention, together with means for actuating them, the whole being shown mounted on an arm which is a rigid portion of a horizontallyreciprocating frame supported by and moving upon the main frame of the complete machine. Fig. 2 is a sectional side elevation of the same on line a m, Fig. 1. Fig. 3, Sheet 2, is a sectional plan view of the same on the line 11 1 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4, Sheet 1, is a face view of one of the toothed plates or pickers employed f or removing cotton. from the bolls. Fig. 3, Sheet 2, is a transverse section, and Fig. 3" a perspective view, of the hollow shaft on which the circular toothed plates are mounted. Figs. 5 and 6, Sheet 3, are sectional views taken on lines 1: w and y y, respectively, of Fig. 1. Fig. 7, Sheet 4, is a plan view of a portion of the top of the frame of the machine. Fig. 8 is mainly a plan view (five sheets) I of the bottom of such frame, showing the track on which the frame carrying my pickers and mechanism for operating them travels. Fig. 9 is a perspective detail view of a Serial No. 241,294. (No model.)

portion of such track. Fig. 9* is a plan view of the same portion of the track, showing the switch open. Fig. 10 is a vertical transverse section of one half or side of a machine to which my improvement is shown applied. Fig. 11, Sheet 5,is a side view of such machine.

The toothed plates constituting the pickers are mounted on shafts and operated by mech anism carried by a box-like arm, A. As shown in Fig. 10, Sheet r, there is a series of such arms attached to a hollow frame, A, and arranged in rows one above another and equidistantly.

On a transverse shaft, B, Figs. 1, 2, and 3, is mounted a roller or wheel,X,wh ich serves as an intermediary for transmitting motion from a driver or driving-shaft (hereinafter described) to the plates I .1, which constitute the pickers. The said shaft B has a double crankarm, U, connected by the pitman D with the segmental gear E,placed in a horizontal position, with its toothed side up and secured 011 a vertical shaft, F, mounted in suitable bearings in the arm A. The segmental gear E meshes with a bevel gear-wheel, G, secured on a hollow shaft, H, (shown detached in Figs. 3 and 3", Sheet 2,) and carrying a number of plates, I, Fig. 4, Sheet 1, which are held a suitable distance apart by intervening washers H. These plates l are substantially circular and provided on one side with teeth which incline in one direction in the plane of the plates, for the purpose of enabling them to take hold of the cotton when moving in one direction and release it when the motion is reversed.

The hollow shaft ll has a series of wide transverse slots, which afiiord space for the segmental plates .1, Figs. 3 and 5, which are toothed in the same manner as the circular plates I. These segmental plates J are mounted on a shaft, K,which extends axially through the said shaft II, the latter being supported on the former, but free to rotate around it. The said shaft K has its hearings in a cross-bar, A and in the outer end of the arm A.

The plates .1 project radially in the slots of shaft H, and are held the requisite distance apart by means of cylindrical washers J. On the inner end. of shaft K, Figs. 2 and 3, is

fixed a bevel gear-wheel, L, which meshes with a segmental gear, N, secured like gear F. on the shaft F, but having its toothed side downward, so that when the said shaft is rocked the gears E and N impart oscillating motion to the wheels G and L, and thereby to the shafts H and K,in opposite directions, so that the toothed plates I J receive like motion, shown by arrows in Fig. 5, Sheet 3.

On the shaft F is secured an arm, 0, to which is jointed a pitman, P. The latter is in turn loosely connected with a straight narrow toothed blade, Q, which, as shown-in Figs. 1,.

5, and 6, is arranged between and parallel with the similar blades, R R, fixed on the bottom of arm A. The toothed edges of these blades are uppermost, and the blade Q slides or reciprocates, while the others, R R, are fixed in position.

The teeth of plates I J, and also of the blade Q, take hold of the cotton fibers when moving in the direction of their curvature or projection, but not when moving in the reverse direction or backward. The mechanism which operates the' pickers is itself directly operated from the crank-shaft B by means of the roller X. There is one such roller for each of the several arms A, and it is arranged beneath and works in frictional contact with a c linder B arran ed horizon tally and deriving rotation from bevel-gears O, mounted on a vertical shaft, D, having its bearings in the movable frame A. (See Fig. 10, Sheet 4, and Fig. 11, Sheet 5.) Thus, as the shaft D revolves, its gears O, which mesh with bevel-faced teeth on cylinders B rotate the latter, and they, B, in turn revolve the rollers or wheels X, and thereby operate the toothed plates I J and toothed blade Q. The latter carries the cotton back into the hollow frame A, whence it is re moved by any suitable means.

The frame A is caused to travel in the irregular orbit described by the track E shown in Figs. 8, 9, and 9*?) and the slot F, gshown in Fig. 7)that is to say, the frame A is supported on grooved wheels or rollers G, that travel 011 said track and have a bevel-gear on one side,which meshes with the lowest bevelgear 0 on the shaft D, and thereby imparts rotation to the latter. The grooved wheel G travels in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 8,

- and spring-switches to enable it to pass from the curved to the straight section of the track E, and vice versa. It will be seen that the straight track is notched, Fig. 9, at a point opposite the ends of the curved sections.

The switches operate in'this way: As the wheel G approaches the fixed end of the curved track-section it strikes against the side of the adjacent switch a, and, forcing the latter laterally open, as in Fig. 9, passes on to the notched end of the fixed portion of the straight track-section. The switch a instantly closes behind the wheel, and the latter then passes back over the switch along the straight track- 'section and strikes and opens the switch a of the curved tracksection, which closes at once when it has passed. The wheel G. then moves on the straight track-section and turns onto the same switch, a, by reason of the fact that the free end of the latter lies in proximity to the notch in the straight track-section, so that the flange of the wheel. catches it. The top portion of the frame A is guided by the slots F, Figs. 7 and 10, and the shaft D projects into such slot and travels in it as the wheel or roller 1 travels on the corresponding track E.

Spring-switches a guide theshaft D from one section of the slot to another.

The propulsion-of the frame A over the track E is effected by a pitman, H and link H Figs. 10 and 11. These are connected by a ball-and-socket joint, Fig. 11, and the link H is attached to the movable frame A, and the pitman H to the crank I on the journal of a small gear, J which meshes with a large gear, K, fixed on the side of a transportingwheel, L.

The general operation is as follows: Rotary motion is imparted to the crank-shaft Bin the manner above described, so that its crankarm 0 oscillates the segmental gears E and N, which in turn transmit such motion to gearwheels G and L, respectively, but in opposite directions, so that the shafts H K and their toothed plates I and J have a reciprocating rotary motion in opposite directions. The peripheries of the plates I J are in line with each other, and as they pass over the cottonplants the teeth take hold of the cotton and extract it from the bolls and carry it along with them. In the reverse movement of the plates I J their teeth slip out of the cotton, which is carried on by such of the plates as are moving at that instant in the direction of the curvature of the teeth. Thus the cotton is carried back of the plates 1 J and delivered into the space at the bottom of which are the toothed blades Q R. The blade Q is constantly reciprocating and carries the cotton with it, while the fixed blades R prevent the cotton from moving backward, (with the blade Q.) Thus the cotton is carried along and delivered into the hollow box of the frame A, whence it is removed to another receptacle by suitable means, (not necessary to describe.)

hat I claim is 1. In a cotton-harvester, the combination of two sets of pickers consisting of toothed oscillating plates arranged parallel side by side at right angles to the common axis, and having teeth inclined in the same direction in the planes of the plates, and means for oscillating said plates in opposite directions simultaneously on the common axis, substantially as shown and described.

2. In a cotton-harvester, the combination of two sets of toothed oscillating plates arranged parallel side by side at right angles to the common axis, and having teeth inclined in the same direction in the planes of the plates, and means for simultaneously oper- IIO ating said plates in opposite directions, two parallel stationary straight-toothed blades, R, on the discharging side of the toothed plates, and a toothed blade, Q, which is arranged and slides between the blades R, and means for imparting motion to said blade Q, as shown and described.

In a cottoli-harvester, the combination, with a series of segmental plates mounted on an oscillating shaft, of a series of circular plates mounted on a hollow shaft, through which the other shaft passes, the plates of both sets having teeth inclined in one direction in the planes of the plates, and means, substantially described, for imparting 0s cillating motion to said shafts and their plates in opposite directions, as set forth.

a. In a cotton-picker, the combination of the hollow shaft I-I, having transverse slots,

the circular toothed plates I, mounted on said 20 shaft, the shaft K, extending axially through the shaft H, the segmental toothed plates J, secured on said shaft K and projecting radially in said slots, and arranged with their edges in line with the plates I, bot-h sets of 25 

